Other than winning a gold medal in the Olympics or scoring the winning goal in the World Cup for Le Tricolore, there's no greater honor for a Frenchman than to win the 24 hours of Le Mans, and for Benoit Treluyer (try saying that name three times quickly), celebrating his second-consecutive victory on home soil was even better than the first.

"This is super and we are really happy with our result," he said. "We maintained the same team – including the mechanics – for this year's race because we all get along so well."

"We arrived feeling very prepared and sure of ourselves thanks to our winning result last year," Treluyer continued. "With Marcel and André we make up a solid and united team so we want to fight for one another and for Audi. The hybrid project just served to motivate us even further. And having won a race like Les 24 Heures du Mans for the first time with a hybrid car is fantastic, it is a moment that will go down in history so we are feeling quite proud."

The sister No. 2 R18 e-tron quattro nearly has the race won, but a lapped GT car zigged when driver Allan McNish expected him to zag.

"I'm devastated. I'm sorry for our team: Dindo, Tom, the engineers and the mechanics," he said. "They did a perfect job throughout the race. Despite a few problems we were in contention for victory up to my accident. I caught a slower GT vehicle in the Porsche corners and expected the driver to stay on the right-hand side. But he didn't. I haven't got a clue why. I spun and crashed into the guard rail with the right front. That damaged the front bodywork and the suspension – the necessary repair cost us two laps. That was a very, very big disappointment."

In LMP2, Starworks Motorsport earned a dream result on its maiden run at Le Mans. The Florida-based team opened their account ahead of Le Mans by winning the 12 Hours of Sebring, and added 24 more hours of success on Sunday in the LoireValley.

"We won Sebring and we've now won Le Mans," said Venezuela's Enzo Potolicchio, one of the three men who steered their Honda Performance Development prototype chassis and V8 engine to Victory Lane. "It's like a dream come true."

The sweet taste of victory was also present for the winning No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari F458 in the GTE-Pro category. After essentially destroying the car in a practice crash, the Italian team worked miracles to return with such strength for the race.

"It didn't start very well on Wednesday when I crashed the car," said AF Corse driver and former Ferrari F1 man Giancarlo Fisichella. "Fortunately we changed the chassis. The mechanics did a fantastic job. They built a completely new car in less than 10 hours. I have to thank you very much to them... because I think without them, we couldn't win this race."

GTE-Am winner Pedro Lamy—one of approximately 25 ex-F1 drivers in the field—credited the privateer Larbre Competition team, and specifically team owner Jack Leconte, for helping the Portuguese driver to play a role in earning the class win for Corvette.

"It's always a possibility to win when I race with [team owner] Jack Leconte," he said. "I won so much in the past with the team and being back racing with them, it's normal that I'm winning again. It's strange to say, but that's the reality."